Let’s say that you’re a middle-class single mother with fiscal skills similar to the federal goverment’s. Your eldest child is turning 19, so you decide to throw her a surprise party. This child, a daughter, had to drop out of high school and work 2 full time jobs (not to mention raising your younger children) because of tendencies to overdraw your bank account, pay Visa with Amex, and take a month off of work whenever you break up with a boyfriend.
Despite your unreliabilty, your job skills are highly in demand. You’ve just started a new position which paid you a sizable signing bonus–$5000, say. Because your dictionary is missing the entry between “ironwood” and “Iroquoian,” you decide to spend that bonus on the birthday party, rather than, for instance, getting caught up on the mortgage.
What do you spend the 5 large on?
And don’t say a band, because I’ve already thought of that. And don’t say male strippers, as it ain’t that kind of story.
Does it matter? Regardless of what she spends it on, she’s spending it on the wrong thing. The party won’t make her daughter forget how irresponsible her mother is; in fact, it’ll highlight it.
Oh, that’s the point of it; the story is about the daughter’s resentment of her mother’s irresponsibility. I just need another couple of examples or two to show how idiotic the party is. I mean, it’s one thing to invite 5 of the daughter’s friends over and do all the cooking yourself; it’s quite another to invite 40 and to have it catered. I already have 2 specifics: the catering and the bad–but I’d like a third.
Kidding. Front row concert tickets for her and a bunch of friends with limo to and from. Dinner at an upscale restaurant. You could probably blow the five grand that way.
I know you said no band, but I just learned first hand* that REO Speedwagon will do a concert for $4000.
*Okay, it was second hand. The brother of the person I just had lunch with works with that kinda stuff. He just had REO do a concert a joked around that for $4k he could have had them play at his house.
I’m thinking the catered food should be something more to the mother’s liking than the girls. So, say the girl is vegetarian, the mom caters in BBQ or filet mingon or something like that. You know, something the mom should have known the girl wouldn’t like if she’d been paying attention.
Professional Videotaping of the Event. With editing. Possibly with the intention of playing it on TV, if only on Community Cable. (I like the way that this one can allow a party meltdown long after the party’s over.)
Hot air balloon ride.
Big party tent - get a block party permit and close the street if the yard isn’t big enough.
I like the cake idea - I keep seeing commercials for the Ace of Cakes and some of those things simply rock.
An acquaintance of mine (who is not wealthy) bought several cases of Cristal champagne for her 18-year-old son’s birthday party. If that’s not “stupidly extravagant,” I don’t know what is.
Flowers (for tables, for decorations, for corsages for the guests)
Alcohol for guests under 21
Printing of invitations - think glossy, multi-page booklets that feature photos of the birthday girl at every year in her life
Party favors - such as Coach bags for every girl
Valet parking
Overpriced mother-daughter dresses for girl and mom
Mammoth ice sculpture
You just described the Sweet Sixteen Phony Wedding/Prom/Nightmare that one of the secretaries at my office has been planning, ad nauseum, for the last several months. The color scheme is black and pink.
Get the daughter big expensive presents of the kind that were the height of trendy faddishness 2 or 3 years ago.
But if there is to be a band, can it be a band that daughter will find utterly naff?
Only $5,000? I could blow that on napkin rings and water goblets alone.
Just be glad you’re not trying to one-up the Goldfarbs and have to spend $10 million on a bat mitzvah. Closer to reality, $10,000 - 30,000 is not unusual for a bar/bat mitzvah.
A quinceanera is not exactly a cheap party either - $5,000 is at the low end, and like mitzvahs, there’s really no limit to what it can cost, other than Daddy’s AMEX card.
Back to the OP - if you want an extravagant party for a 19 year old girl, start with Mustangs as party favors and go from there.
